It was team Scrabble (tm) night and the tipple was Piper Sonoma NV. Moderate bead, very active bubbles. Opponent Paul claimed that the bubbles were due to a copious dosage which I gather is sweetness. Heck, our anniversary wine is Jose Michel Special Club, and it's bone dry--but is very bubbly with a finer bead. Paul can keep you out of jail, but he's no chemist, so my question is whether or not there is some relationship between bubbliness and dosage in methode champenoise wine.

The amount of carbonation is due to the amount of sugar added to provide food for the yeast during the bottle fermentation (tirage). If too much sugar is added the bottles could explode. The dosage is sugar added after the bottle fermentation has been completed and does not produce any bubbles. It is to sweeten the taste of the final product.

Thanks, Howie! I often log on and read posts but seldom post myself because I am just not the expert the rest of you are. But I do like sparkling wine and hope that someday the wine of the month will be British bubbly.And I've tried to grow my own as you do, with illegally imported Mexican aglianco grapes. Nuthin! Is there any wine grape that can survive minus 20 degree Fahrenheidt temperatures with decent volcanic soil?